we understand tomorrow the california congressman dana ro rorhbacer will be in front senate to encourage the state department to actually act finally and try to spring the doctor free. they have been making suggest he will attempts in the background but they really have got even nowhere in the many months that have passed since he was incarcerated in pakistan, jenna. jenna: a story we ll continue to watch and follow. thank you. jon: the white house and republicans as we ve been telling you are fighting over who to blame if the sequester should kick in on friday. bob woodward of the washington post is laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of president obama saying the white house came up with the sequester plan and the president approved it. so let s talk about it with our news watch panel today. jim i pinkerton a contributor editor and writer for a conservative magazine.
in new taxes they rejected that. they rejected everything the president has offered them. jon: jim is this really all about taxes? it could be, and i think the president has the bully pulpit. he s the one speaking to the governors and so on. i wouldn t underestimate his power to win this fight i. think if the republicans had wanted to win they should have gone back a year and held years for the last year about how you save a measly 2%. they should wear buttons, i can save 2% so can you, to show how minimal economizing would accomplish this. we are are at the last minute and i m afraid the president has the upper hand. jon: the federal budget is still going up this year even with the sequester we will be still spending more money. the rate of increase we re spending has been less than previous p. the rate of increase is less. there is always increase. even if we stop where we are now there is still an increase even with a sequester. except of course for 2009 when it went up like b
because of the stimulus which i believe really helped the economy. but the rate of increase in spending, the president i think is unfairly criticized for spending when his rate of increase is lens his predecessors. that just proves how easy it is to do. if he s doing what you said, it shows it could be possible all along and will a little bit more than that. shouldn t congress be with session to deal with this. though. frankly, yes. jon: rare agreement between these two guys. this is a beautiful moment. jon: let s take you back to the oscar ceremony last night. big surprise first lady michelle obama was a presenter, presented the best picture award. here is how it looked as jack nicholson tossed it to the first lady. what do you think about i don t know, using the white house as sort of a backdrop for the oscars, any problem with that, jim? well, i mean i admit that hollywood s infatuation with the obamas can get pretty thick as times, with dustin hoffman praising gun con
on the red carpet, however i think the saving grace of that moment last night was the troops in the background there. if the obama administration is willing to highlight our troops in hollywood, good for them. jon: alan, what did you think about it. i knew that conservatives, some of them might object to it. hollywood and politics got married a longtime ago. does anybody remember marlon brando when he rejected the godfather s academy award and sent s be hatchen little feather to speak on behalf of native-american rights. we shouldn t be surprised that there are political speeches or a component i think jim had a good point, the troops in the background made it fair & balanced. jon: we asked the white house just so you know, we asked the white house who they were and it turns out that they were some of the military aides who helped in serving or handling the dinner that had taken place last night for the governors who were in town for the national governor s association.
those are some of the military aides who were part of that event. all right. alan colmes, jim pinkerton good to have you on. thanks. jenna: jodi arias is back on the stand in her very high profile murder trial facing witness therwitherin cross-examination from a prosecutor seeking the death penalty. we ll watch this, watch her answers, bring you any video and our legal panel will weigh in next on how it is all going. here is something you don t see every day, what one unlucky driver is saying about how his car landed in this swimming pool. surely there has to be a good story about that, right, jon? jon: wrecked the tarp, that s for sure.